Maundy Thursday Part 4

And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. - Mark 14.32-41

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation." While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him... - Luke 22.39-47

This is the last moment Christ had with His Father before His appointed sacrificial death. His three closest friends went with Him to be with Him in His greatest time of need. Christ's request was simple, sit here and keep watch and pray. That is all He requested his best friends do while he wrestled with his impending sacrifice. This was the most stressful time in His ministry to this point. He wasn't just facing beatings, he wasn't just facing death, he was facing a broken communion with the other two parts of the Trinity, the Father and Spirit, which He had never had to bear for all of eternity to this point. The agony of the impending separation was so great that his sweat was mixed with blood and he sweat blood! He cried out in his agony as a child cries to their father "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me". These words must have been said with unthinkable agony. And even though the bloodied sweat dripped off of His body, even though he had no desire to undergo the broken fellowship with God and had no desire to bear the weight of His bride's sin upon Him and be punished in place of His bride, in spite of all of this he said "Yet not what I will, but what you will"! This total submission to the Father, in spite of His own desires, this was what was required of Him, this is His act of obedience to the father, and He willfully chose to do it, because He loved us. Unfathomable! In this time of need, Peter John and James all proved to be of little support to Him. Imagine what it would be like in your time of greatest need when your best friends couldn't even be there to support you, instead they grew weary and slept. This is the total solitude Christ found himself at. Impending wrath from God on our behalf, broken (eternal!) fellowship with the other two parts of the Trinity, and He found Himself alone. In His solitude, the Father saw Him and knew He needed support and knew the weakness of His disciples, and because He was such a loving Father, He sent an angel from heaven to be With Christ and strengthen Him! What an amazing truth of God, that even when we are alone and are in complete agony because of the task appointed for us, when our Heavenly Father sees us in such need, He supplies us support from heaven, as He supplied it to Christ in His darkest hour! Oh what a loving Father we have! We have a Savior who would take a break in His time praying to His Father to come check on us, and we have a Father who will send us heavenly aid when we enter our darkest, most solitary hours! We must never lose sight of Christ's example here! Even if we do not want to go through the trials and persecutions set before us, even if we would ask with all of our being that they be removed from us, nevertheless that we submit to them because they were appointed by our Father, who knows what is best, and works all things for good for his children, those who love Him and are called according to His purpose! This is the example set by Christ, and we will never know a tiny amount of what Christ endured on our behalf, and so it is gratitude for his suffering for us, that we follow His example, even if it means physical death. They may kill the body, but our Father is stronger than all, and they can never kill the spirit, which the Father protects with the blood of His Son! This is our Christ, and this is how much He suffered on our behalf! Let us obey and submit as He did.

Maundy Thursday Part 3

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. - John 15.1-17

There is so much to cover in Christ's monologue to his disciples at the Last Supper. This is one piece that always sticks out to me, but we should read the entire discourse (John 14-17) and meditate on it. In this passage Christ shows the necessity of good works in the believers life, and explains how these things come about. Christ is very clear that we must abide in Him to bear fruit. That's an incredibly humbling thing. We're so often guilty of individualistic, self-reliant thinking that to understand that unless with dwell in Christ, we can do nothing pleasing to God, that realization can be so offensive to us at times. Above that, when Christ says that in order to bear more fruit, we must be pruned, that also can raise the hairs on the back of our necks. To prune something means to cut away dead pieces so that it may thrive more, which in our understanding means disciplining us and removing things from us that hinder our growth. And beyond that, we can't even help ourselves grow, it is the work of God! This can easily offend us until we reflect on the perfection and wisdom of our Father and then reflect on how the Scriptures say than He who began a good work in me will continue it until the day of completion! We are a fickle people and our desires change constantly. It is so relieving to know that the One who is perfect, and absolutely wise, and can never change, it is He who takes care of us and causes us to grow and bear more fruit! The pruning work of the father, and the abiding in the son for their power to do good works is a complete gift! But we don't see that unless we're humbled. The only other alternative offered is being cut off completely and thrown into hell, and that is much less attractive than being pruned and being able to do an ever increasing amount of good works, and these good works in turn glorify the Father. So we see that abiding in Christ is a complete gift and is ultimately a blessing and not drudgery. This brings us to the matter of affections. Christ elaborates and relates the duty of good works with the affections of loving Him. Love is related to duty because to love Christ is to obey his commandments. Obedience is the fruit of love, not just duty, and that is the key to good works. Anything that man can label "obedience" to the law of God, that is not rooted in love for God, is not in fact obedience. Christ did not say that love was a product of obedience, no. He said that obedience was a product of love! The love comes first, and where there is no love, there can be no obedience. Jesus obeyed His Father, even to give up his life for us on the cross, and because of His love for His Father, He remained abiding perfectly in His Father's love. Likewise, we are called to live a life of love that brings forth obedience, possibly even obedience to death, so that we may remain in Christ's love. He shows us the depth of His love for us, that even though we are his servants, he calls us friends, because we are now adopted children and have nothing hidden by the Son in regard to what the Father shared with Him. Christ kept no secrets from us, but shared with us all the secrets of the kingdom that were revealed to Him, because we are now friends, children, of God. This is indeed an amazing blessing. One of the final things Christ emphasizes again is the fact that our bearing the fruit of good works is not of our own doing since "you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." Christ chose us so that our fruit would abide! There is nothing fickle and changing about Christ, who is one with His father, and because we are chosen by Him (not by ourselves), our fruit is of an imperishable seed that will endure till the end, and we will prosper! Another blessing of being chosen by the unchangeable Christ is that whatever we ask in His name we shall receive! The key is growth since the more we grow the more in line our thought process is with God, and the more heavenly things we will ask for. This is why it is so necessary that we are chosen by God, because His choices are effectual and permanent. What he chooses can never be changed, and it will come about in it's fullness, so we will continue to grow and will never be forsaken! Oh, what a beautiful truth! Let us grow up embrace and love it, and let us be humbled by it and glory in Christ alone! Let us love God and love one another, this is the obedience we are commanded to!

Maundy Thursday Part 2

And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." ... I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, 'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. - John 13.10b-11, 18-30

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand." While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man; seize him." And he came up to Jesus at once and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you came to do." Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. - Matt 26.45-50

This is the most heinous betrayal to be exercised on earth. No betrayal could have been more devious and evil than to betray the Son of God and sell him for a price. Judas' betrayal was as unthinkable as it was devious. It was so unthinkable, that as the disciples heard Christ in clear terms say that the betrayer was the one "whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it" and then they saw Him hand the bread he had dipped to Judas, they still only thought "Jesus was telling him, 'Buy what we need for the feast,' or that he should give something to the poor". This is how unthinkable an act betraying the Son of God was, so unthinkable that Judas' own companions, with the verbal account of Jesus, were still blind to the fact that Jesus would be betrayed. To show the corruption in his being, Judas' pointed out Christ with a kiss! Many of us I'm sure have heard the word picture of a man hugging someone while stabbing them in the back, this is just the example to fit such a phrase. To greet someone with a kiss, as the sign that they're the one you're betraying. Judas was content with betraying the Son of God for the price of 30 pieces of silver, and Christ knew this all along. This is one of the many times Jesus led by example when he spoke of loving our enemies. His words to Judas weren't hateful even though all Judas' words in scripture were drenched with venom, Jesus spoke to him gently, as if pitying him. Jesus described him saying that it would be better had he never been born. To know that a person was going to betray you, and then to still show them the love and service of washing their feet and break bread with them showing them nothing but kindness, this is our example. Knowing the one who betrayed Him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver, and then to refer to him as "friend", this is our Christ. Loving his enemies even when they betrayed him. Now there's the matter of the betrayal. Judas loved his 30 pieces of silver more than he loved Jesus (if he had even the smallest affection for Jesus at all). His love for money was clear in scripture, since we know that he was a thief and stole from the treasury, which he was appointed treasurer by Christ (another message in itself). This love for money was big enough to sell out the Son of God to death, and even though this act cannot be duplicated, it brings up a practical question. Do we have anything we love more than Christ? This is something that requires personal reflection, but what do we love more than Christ, and are we willing to forsake Christ for it? If the answer is yes, then you need to come before God asking Him to change your heart before you sell out Christ for any other pleasure on this earth. We know from Judas' case that the money wasn't enough to satisfy since he saw death in suicide (ironically hung on a tree, the same as he sold Christ to be) as the only was to end his misery. That's the bitter truth of pleasures apart from Christ, they don't satisfy and they lead to death. Let us strive to find our pleasure in Christ, and let us, as Christ did, to love our enemies, even as they betray us.

Maundy Thursday Part 1

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. - John 13.1-17

Jesus Christ, the Holy God-man, came down to earth in a humble means, rode into Jerusalem in humble means, and now takes the place as a common servant washing the disciples feet. In Jesus' rich words we are given a comfort, and a service. We are comforted with the fact that we know that as children of God, we are bathed by Christ completely and sufficiently to stand before God, cleansed by His precious blood, and all of our filth has been washed away. For Christ to say "if I do not wash you, you have no share with me" is totally humbling. There is no cleaning up our mess for Christ. Anytime we have a meeting with someone we respect, our inclination is to clean up and have a proper appearance. This is not the case with God. It is God who will condemn our filthiness, and it is God who will clean our filthiness. This is a beautiful truth. And then as we read on that "The one who has bathed does not need to wash...but is completely clean." Oh thank you Jesus for your absolute forgiveness, we are completely cleaned and no spot or blemish remains! You have done the work, and we have such an undeserved gift! Now there's the point of the washing of the feet. Even though our sins are forgiven and we have the righteousness of Christ to stand before God with confidence and enter to His presence, Christ said that everything is clean "except for his feet" and He continued to wash the disciples feet. Then He went on to say that "you also ought to wash one another's feet." While the historical, literal context might have been that their feet were constantly dirty, and they had to ceremonially be cleaned before they ate, the text begs something more. We understand the illusion of Christ cleaning us to be justification and the imputation of righteousness, so we should understand Christ's actions and words on the nature of washing feet to be symbolic of something more, namely the act of sanctification and the disciplines of growing in grace and aligning our actions more closely to those of Christ. This is why we must wash our feet, and this is, as Christ washed ours, what we ought to help our brothers and sisters in Christ to do! Just as no servant is greater than his master, Christ hes been victorious in removing the sting from our sin, forgiving us, and so we must in turn help each other to walk in holiness and wash away the dirt from our feet (fight against remaining sinful urges). As Christ served us, so we ought to serve each other, which in turn is an act of service to Him as our Lord. This is a profound truth.